Mail piece verification system

ABSTRACT

A mail piece verification system for processing a mail piece having associated therewith mail piece data includes an incoming mail processing center, an outgoing mail processing center located downstream from the incoming mail processing center and a data center in operative communication with the incoming mail processing center and the outgoing mail processing center. The incoming mail processing center receives the mail piece, obtains the mail piece and uploads the mail piece data to the data center. The data center performs a verification check on the mail piece data and downloads instructions based upon the verification check to the outgoing mail processing center. The outgoing mail processing center uses the instructions to process the mail piece.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates to mail piece verification systems. Moreparticularly, this invention is directed to a mail piece verificationsystem conducting successive verification activities on a mail piecealong different stages of a mail processing system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Generally, postage metering systems are well known in the art.Typically, the traditional mechanical and electronic postage meters haveemployed physical security and specialized inks to prevent fraud. Theregisters that maintain an accounting of postal funds have been locatedwithin a secure housing along with a dedicated printer. As a furthermeasure, the dedicated printers have used fluorescent ink to provide anextra aid in the detection of an authentic postage meter indicium.

[0003] More recently, postal authorities have promulgated regulationsthat allow postage meter manufacturers to utilized digital printingtechnology (laser, ink jet, thermal transfer, etc.), either embedded aspart of a mail handling system or as a general purpose office printer.As an example, the United States Postal Service (USPS) has enabled thedecoupling of the postage meter and the printer and allowed the use ofdigital printers by establishing an Information-Based Indicia Program(IBIP). The IBIP is a distributed trusted system established by the USPSto retrofit and augment existing postage meters using new technologyknown as information-based indicia. The IBIP relies on digital signaturetechniques to produce for each mail piece an indicium whose origincannot be repudiated. Thus, in contrast to traditional postage meteringsystems employing mechanical printing technology and physical security,the IBIP supports new methods of securely applying postage to mailpieces. Generally, the IBIP requires printing a high-densitytwo-dimensional (2D) bar code on a mail piece. The 2D barcode encodesvarious information associated with the mail piece and is subsequentlysigned with a digital signature.

[0004] The USPS has published detailed specifications for the IBIP.Generally, the IBIP is directed to two types of postage meteringsystems. The first type is referred to as a closed system and is definedin the INFORMATION BASED INDICIA PROGRAM—PERFORMANCE CRITERIA FORINFORMATION-BASED INDICIA AND SECURITY ARCHITECTURE FOR CLOSED IBIPOSTAGE METERINGS SYSTEMS, dated Jan. 12, 1999, (“IBIP Closed SystemSpecification”). The second type is referred to as an open system and isdefined in the INFORMATION BASED INDICIA PROGRAM—PERFORMANCE CRITERIAFOR INFORMATION—BASED INDICIA AND SECURITY ARCHITECTURE FOR OPEN IBIPOSTAGE EVIDENCING SYSTEMS, dated Feb. 23, 2000, (“IBIP Open SystemSpecification”). Together, the IBIP Closed System Specification and theIBIP Open System Specification define the requirements for nextgeneration postage metering systems.

[0005] Although the transition to digital printing provides manyadvantages, the postal authorities recognize that digital printingspawns potential new forms of fraud. As an example, an individualseeking to commit a fraud upon the postal authority need only utilizetheir computer, image scanner and printer to generate multiple copies ofa single postal indicium. Thus, a valid indicium may be replicatedperfectly. This technique is referred to as fraud by duplication.

[0006] As a result, measures have been developed to detect such attemptsto defraud the postal authorities. Typically, these measures involveverifying the authenticity of the postal indicium on a mail piece as themail piece is being processed by the postal authority. This verificationactivity seeks to ensure that the postage amount shown in the postalindicium has been properly accounted for. For instance, the postalauthority may validate the digital signature discussed above todetermine the authenticity of the postal indicium. However, this willnot necessarily expose a second mail piece with a duplicated postalindicium representing an exact copy of a valid indicium. Thus, detectionof these types of duplicates, and other issues, present problems for thepostal authorities.

[0007] Another problem faced by the postal authorities is the intensivedata processing required of a distributed mail processing systememploying a plurality of remotely located processing centers. Typically,the processing center must scan each postal indicium to obtain its data,conduct database lookups, perform cryptographic calculations anddetermine whether or not the postal indicium is valid. If a mail piececannot be validated, it is diverted to an out sort bin for furtherinvestigation and/or return to the sender. Complicating this situationis the fact that such verification processing is conducted by a singlemail piece processing system. This necessitates that the verificationprocessing is completed during the interval between mail piece scanningand the diversion location to the out sort bin. Given the rate at whichthe processing machines operate (up to 12 mail pieces per second), thereis very little time to perform verification checks.

[0008] Still further complications exist. If the cryptographiccomputations are to be performed locally (on individual processingmachines), then large amounts of data must be distributed to all of theprocessing machines (e.g. cryptographic keys for each postage meter,data to enable detection of duplicate indicia) and kept updated toreflect changes in the meter population. On the other hand, if thecomputations are performed remotely, then the postal indicium data foreach mail piece must be transmitted in real time to a central location,validated and the results returned to the processing machine before themail piece reaches the diversion point. Both of these arrangementsrequire significant real time processing and rapid database access.

[0009] Therefore, there is a need for a mail piece verification systemthat provides operational advantages over those described above.Furthermore, there is a need for a mail piece verification system thatreduces the data processing requirements of the overall system whilemaintaining or improving upon its integrity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to providea mail piece verification system that addresses the drawbacks anddisadvantage of the prior art systems.

[0011] In accomplishing these and other objects there is provided a mailpiece verification system for processing a mail piece having associatedtherewith mail piece data includes an incoming mail processing center,an outgoing mail processing center located downstream from the incomingmail processing center and a data center in operative communication withthe incoming mail processing center and the outgoing mail processingcenter. The incoming mail processing center receives the mail piece,obtains the mail piece and uploads the mail piece data to the datacenter. The data center performs a verification check on the mail piecedata and downloads instructions based upon the verification check to theoutgoing mail processing center. The outgoing mail processing centeruses the instructions to process the mail piece.

[0012] Additionally, there are provided a method of operating the mailpiece verification system and a method of operating a data center forprocessing mail piece data, respectively, that are generally analogousto the summary provided above.

[0013] Therefore, it should now be apparent that the inventionsubstantially achieves all the above objects and advantages. Additionalobjects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in thedescription which follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Moreover,the objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtainedby means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointedout in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in andconstitute a part of the specification, illustrate presently preferredembodiments of the invention, and together with the general descriptiongiven above and the detailed description of the preferred embodimentsgiven below, serve to explain the principles of the invention. As shownthroughout the drawings, like reference numerals designate like orcorresponding parts.

[0015]FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a mail piece verificationsystem in accordance with the present invention.

[0016]FIG. 2 is an example of a postal indicium printed by a postagemetering system that is processed by the mail piece verification systemin accordance with the present invention.

[0017]FIG. 3 is an example of a prior art mail piece that may beverified by the verification system in accordance with the presentinvention.

[0018]FIG. 4 is a flow chart depicting the operation of the mail pieceverification system in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0019] Referring to FIG. 1, a schematic representation a mail pieceverification system 100 for processing a mail piece 20 (envelope, postcard, package, label, e-mail, or the like), having a postal indicium 30printed thereon (or attached to, embedded in or otherwise associatedwith electronic forms of the mail piece 20), in a path of travel asindicated by the solid arrows is shown. The mail piece verificationsystem 100 includes a deposit location 110, an incoming mail processingcenter 120 having an incoming out sort bin 122, a central postal datacenter 130, a transportation system 140, an outgoing mail processingcenter 150 having an outgoing out sort bin 152 and a delivery location160. The central postal data center 130 is in operative communicationwith the incoming mail processing center 120 and the outgoing mailprocessing center 150 over any suitable conventional communicationnetwork, such as: telephone lines, a local area network, a wide areanetwork, the Internet or the like. Generally, as shown in FIG. 1, thesolid lines with arrows are intended to represent the flow of the mailpiece 20 while the dashed lines with arrows are intended to representdata flow, as described in greater detail below.

[0020] For the sake of clarity, the mail piece verification system 100has been shown with respect to a particular mail piece 20. Those skilledin the art will recognize that the mail piece verification system 100may employ a plurality of deposit locations 110 that receive mail pieces20 and direct them to a plurality of incoming mail processing centers120. From these centers 120, the mail pieces 20 are transported over aplurality of transportation systems 140 to a plurality of outgoing mailprocessing centers 150 so that the mail pieces may be delivered to aplurality of delivery locations 160, accordingly. Thus, the mail pieceverification system 100 represents a network of systems that connect thedeposit locations 110 to the delivery locations 160. Each mail piece 20is routed through the mail piece verification system 100 (network)according to numerous factors, such as: the class of service selectedand the physical locations of the deposit 110 and the delivery location160.

[0021] The deposit location 110 may be any acceptance point (post officewindow, mail box, computer server, etc.) that the postal authority hasdesignated for receiving mail pieces 20 from the public. The incomingmail processing center 120 may or may not be co-located with the depositlocation 110. In either case, the mail pieces 20 are directed by postalauthority to the incoming mail processing center 120 which may employone or more mail processing machines, such as the Small Parcel andBundle Sorter, the Advanced Facer Canceller System or the Flats SortingMachine, all available from Lockheed Martin—Postal Automation Systems.These mail processing machines typically perform preliminary tasks onthe mail pieces 20, such as: culling, positioning (facing the mailpiece), POSTNET bar code printing, sorting and the like. Any mail pieces20 that are deemed unacceptable are diverted to the out sort bin 122.Once the preliminary mail processing tasks are completed, the mail piece20 travels over the transportation system 140 to the outgoing mailprocessing center 150. The transportation system 140 may employ anysuitable combination of physical transport, such as: truck, plane, boat,car, computer network, or the like. The outgoing mail processing center150 is very similar to the incoming mail processing center 120 and mayemploy one or more of the same types of mail processing machinesdescribed above. These mail processing machines typically performsecondary tasks on the mail pieces 20, such as: culling, positioning,POSTNET bar code reading, sorting and the like. Any mail pieces 20 thatare deemed unacceptable are diverted to the out sort bin 152. Once thesecondary mail processing tasks are completed, the mail piece 20 isrouted via a designated post office to the delivery location 160 (homeaddress, business address, post office box, computer account, IP addressor the like).

[0022] Those skilled in the art will recognize that any combination ofincoming mail processing centers 120, transportation systems 140 andoutgoing mail processing centers 15 may be employed to effect receipt ofthe mail piece 20 at the deposit location 110 and route the mail piece20 to the delivery location 160. For example, many intermediateprocessing centers may be employed and the transportation system 140 maybe deployed in stages. Numerous factors, such as the class of serviceand the physical proximity of the deposit location 110 to the deliverylocation 160, may influence the exact route that a particular mail piece20 may take while it is in transit.

[0023] Furthermore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that theincoming mail processing center 120 and the outgoing mail processingcenter 150 may be co-located. In fact, they may actually be the samemail processing center. In some ways what differentiates the incomingmail processing center 120 from the outgoing mail processing center 150is the status of the mail piece 20. If the mail piece 20 has just beenreceived, then the mail processing center is operating as the incomingmail processing center 120. On the other hand, if the mail piece 20 iswell along its delivery route, then the mail processing center isoperating as the outgoing mail processing center 150. Thus, at any givenlocation, the same mail processing center may be operating as both anincoming mail processing center 120 (for the mail pieces 20 that havejust been deposited for delivery) and as an outgoing mail processingcenter 150 (for the mail pieces 20 that have already been processed andare nearing their delivery points).

[0024] Still further, instead of being a singular facility, the postaldata center 130 may be embodied as a plurality of regional postal datacenters 130 that are geographically dispersed and networked togetherusing suitable communication techniques. This may allow for variousadvantages, such as: system redundancy (in case of failures), quickerresponse times and reduced communication expenses, while preserving thebenefits of the communication path ways generally described above and inmore detail below.

[0025] Referring to FIG. 2 in view of FIG. 1, a more detailed view ofthe postal indicium 30 is shown. Since the postal indicium 30 does notconstitute a part of the present invention, the following description isbeing provided with respect to a particular type of postal indicium 30by way of background. Generally, the postal indicium 30 includes bothfixed data that does not change from indicium to indicium and variabledata that may change. The fixed and variable data may change dependingupon postal authority requirements and the needs of the postage systemmanufacturer, but generally can be summarized as follows. The fixed dataincludes a graphic design 31 (an eagle with stars and US POSTAGE), ameter serial number 32 uniquely identifying the postage meter (notshown) that produced the postal indicium 30, a licensing post office ID(Zip Code) 33 and an optional facer identification mark (FIM) 34 usedduring post office processing. The variable data includes a date 35indicating when the postage was dispensed, a postal value 36 indicatingan amount of postage, an indication of a service class (first class,bulk rate, priority, overnight, certified, etc.) that has been selectedfor the mail piece 20, a bar code 37 containing both elements of bothfixed and variable data and, in the most preferred embodiment,authentication information 38. The bar code 37 may be of anyconventional format and is provided for the purpose of improving machinereadability and increasing automated processing of the mail piece 20.Generally, the authentication information 38 is an encrypted message,such as a digital signature, digital token or other data, derived fromthe information contained with the postal indicium 30. Theauthentication information 38 may be in any format, such as:alphanumeric string, bar code or the like. Most preferably, theauthentication information 38 is incorporated into the bar code 37.Using the authentication information 38 and other data contained withinthe postal indicium 30, the postal authority can verify the authenticityof the postal indicium 30 using conventional techniques. Thus, thepostal indicium 30 may also be classified as containing authenticationinformation 38 and non-authentication information 31-37 and 39.

[0026] As mentioned above, the postal indicium 30 need only beassociated with the particular mail piece 20. Therefore, when the mailpiece 20 takes electronic form, the postal indicium 30 may bereconfigured accordingly.

[0027] Referring to FIG. 3, in view of FIGS. 1 and 2, an example of aprior art mail piece 20 that may be processed by the verification system100 is shown. The mail piece 20 includes the postal indicium 30 (asdescribed above), a sender address 40 (optional) and a recipient address50. The recipient address 50 provides information to the postalauthority corresponding to the delivery location 160. The typicalrecipient address 50 includes a recipient name 52 (personal, business orgeneric (occupant)), recipient delivery information 54 (street address,post office box number, etc.), a city name 56, a state name 57 and a ZIPcode 58.

[0028] With the structure of the present invention described as above,the operational characteristics will now be described with respect toreceipt and delivery of the mail piece 20. For the sake of clarity, itis assumed that the mail piece 20 is processed by only one incoming mailprocessing center 120 and only one outgoing mail processing center 150.Referring primarily to FIG. 4 while referencing the structure of FIGS.1, 2 and 3, a flow chart 400 of the operation of the mail pieceverification system 100 in accordance with the present invention isshown.

[0029] After receiving the mail piece 20 at the deposit location 110, at402, the mail piece 20 is scanned at the incoming mail processing center120 to obtain mail piece data. The mail piece data may include thepostal indicium 30, the recipient address 50, the sender address 40 orany combination or subset of the above. Next, at 404, a determinationmay optionally be made whether or not the mail piece 20 meetspreliminary conditions. In the most preferred embodiment, thepreliminary conditions do not involve cryptographic calculations oraccess to complicated databases. The preliminary conditions may include:recognition of a valid meter serial number 32, a posting date 35 withinan acceptable range of the current date, suitable readability of themail piece 20 in terms of accuracy and completeness and recognition of avalid recipient address 50. If at 404 the answer is no, then at 406 themail piece 20 is out sorted to out sort bin 122 for furtherinvestigation, human reading, return to the sender or some othersuitable action. On the other hand, if the answer at 404 is yes, then at408 a global identification number (preferably an alphanumeric string)(not shown) is assigned to the mail piece 20 that uniquely identifiesthe mail piece 20 to the postal authority. The global identificationnumber may preferably be chosen to reflect other information, such as:the particular incoming mail processing center 110 that received themail piece 20. Optionally, the global identification number may beprinted on the mail piece 20 in bar code or some other conventionalformat. Generally, the global identification numbers are allocated tothe incoming mail processing center 120 by the central postal datacenter 130. In this way, the incoming mail processing center 120 mayassign the numbers one at a time as the mail pieces 20 are received.Next, at 410, the mail piece data and the global identification numberare uploaded from the incoming mail processing center 120 to the centralpostal data center 130. Next, at 412, the mail piece 20 is advanceddownstream in the path of travel along the delivery route by thetransportation system 140. Next, at 414, the central postal data center130 conducts an analysis to see if the mail piece 20 meets secondaryconditions. In the most preferred embodiment, the secondary conditionsinvolve cryptographic calculations to determine the validity of thepostal indicium 30. Those skilled in the art will recognize that themail piece data may be transmitted to a central postal data center 130for verification either immediately or as a batch process at some latertime. Since the incoming mail processing center 120 does not performcryptographic verification checks, there is no need to distributesensitive information (e.g., cryptographic keys, “license plates,”duplicate data and the like) to the incoming mail processing center 120.In addition, the computational requirements for the incoming mailprocessing center 120 are significantly reduced (no need to rapidlyperform database lookups or cryptographic operations).

[0030] Next, at 416, the central postal data center 130 downloadsinstructions, as necessary, to the outgoing mail processing center 150for use in processing the mail piece 20. In the most preferredembodiment, the processing instructions are associated with the globalidentification number of the mail piece 20. For example, the instructionmay indicate that the mail piece 20 should be diverted to the out sortbin 152 for follow up by a postal authority investigator. As anotherexample, the instructions may indicate that the mail piece 20 should beprocessed in a normal fashion. In the alternative, instructions may onlybe supplied for “special” (other than normal) processing. In thissituation, the absence of a special instruction (divert instruction) mayindicate that the outgoing mail processing center 150 should process themail piece 20 in a normal fashion. Next, at 418, the outgoing mailprocessing center 150 scans the mail piece 20 to obtain the globalidentification number. As discussed above, it may have even been printedon the mail piece 20 by the incoming mail processing center 120. Next,at 420, the outgoing mail processing center 150 retrieves any processinginstructions associated with the global identification number throughsimple database access. Next, at 422, the outgoing mail processingcenter 150 processes the mail piece 20 in accordance with the processinginstructions, as described above.

[0031] Those skilled in the art will now recognize that the presentinvention substantially addresses many of the drawbacks and deficienciesassociated with conventional mail processing in addition to thosediscussed above. Since all cryptographic verification operations(indicium verification, duplicate detection) are performed at thecentral postal data center 130, the overall security and integrity ofthe system 100 are improved but access to the cryptographic informationis limited. Since the cryptographic verification operations aregenerally performed while the mail piece 20 is in transit from theincoming mail processing center 120 to the outgoing mail processingcenter 150, this significantly increases the time allotted to performverification. This extra time enables more detailed checks to beperformed. Furthermore, by migrating cryptographic verificationoperations to the central postal data center 130, the verificationprocedures may be more easily modified on an as needed basis (thecurrent system would require major distributed system updates to beperformed in order to change verification procedures).

[0032] When the mail piece 20 is scanned at the incoming mail processingcenter 120, the delivery route through the system 100 to the deliverylocation 160 is often determined using the ZIP code 33 in view ofexisting transportation hubs and the proximity of the delivery location160 to available outgoing mail processing centers 150. Therefore, evenfurther efficiencies may be available. For example, the need tobroadcast the down load of the processing instruction to the entirepopulation of outgoing mail processing centers 150 may be eliminated.Instead, the processing instructions may be directly sent to aparticular one of the outgoing mail processing centers 150 correspondingto the determined delivery route of the mail piece. In this manner, theamount of data that is download and the total communications between thecentral postal data center 130 and the population of outgoing mailprocessing centers 150 is reduced.

[0033] As a further benefit, the system 100 of the present inventionalso increases the chance that a pair of duplicate mail pieces 20 can becaptured for investigation and/or prosecution. In the current system, aduplicate mail piece 20 can only be detected after the “original” hasbeen processed. Therefore, the current system is not set up to out sortboth an original mail piece 20 and a fraudulent copy. Without both mailpieces 20, prosecution of the offender is likely to be much harder.Since the present invention performs duplicate checking while the mailpieces 20 are in transit and provides the opportunity for downstreamdiversion, both the original and the duplicate may be captured. In otherwords, if a duplicate enters the mail stream prior to delivery of theoriginal mail piece 20, then both mail pieces 20 can be out sorted forinvestigation.

[0034] As yet still another benefit, the service class 39 informationmay be used to determine a priority for scheduling: (i) the uploading ofthe mail piece data; (ii) the performance of the secondary checks;and/or (iii) the downloading of the processing instructions. Asexamples, in this manner, the different data handling needs of a mailpiece 20 that has been sent by overnight delivery may be expedited,those of a 1^(st) class mail piece 20 may be somewhat more moderatelyattended to while those of a bulk rate mail piece 20 may be addressed inan even more deliberate manner. Thus, the postal authority may moreefficiently process the mail piece data based on the service class 39 inview of the amount of delivery time available, the anticipatedlikelihood of fraud (large volume mailings, such as bulk rate, often aretargeted by fraudulent actors than lower volume mailings, such aspriority mail) and other factors. As a result, the incoming mailprocessing center 120 may communicate more frequently with the centralpostal data center 130 for the purpose of uploading mail piece dataassociated with short delivery cycles while those of mail pieces 20having longer delivery cycles may occur during “off peak” periods. Thus,the service class 39 may be used to set a priority for the upload ofmail piece data and in analogous fashion the subsequent download ofprocessing instructions.

[0035] Those skilled in the art will recognize that variousmodifications can be made without departing from the spirit of thepresent invention. For example, a series of central postal data centers130 in communication with each other could be set up to share anddistribute verification tasks. As another example, letter carriers ormail boxes could perform scanning of the postal indicium 30 at time ofdeposit. This would accelerate the input of the mail piece data into thesystem 100. As yet another example, a list of valid mail pieces 20 couldbe transmitted to the outgoing mail processing centers to ensure thatfraudulent mail pieces were not introduced into the mail stream duringtransport due to corrupt postal authority employees or otherwise. Thus,the central postal data center 130 could download a list of valid globalidentification numbers. In the absence of the scanned globalidentification number appearing on such a list, the mail piece 20 couldbe diverted. As yet still another example, those skilled in the art willrecognize that many of the steps and activities described above may beperformed in differing orders or concurrently. As still yet anotherexample, if the mail piece 20 is an electronic file, then the postalindicium 30 may be replaced with any other suitable indication ofpayment and instead of scanning the mail piece 20, the mail piece datamay already be associated with the mail piece 20 such as by attachmentas a header file. As still yet another example, the verification system100 has been described with respect to an unrestricted access systemwhere anyone may utilize the mail piece delivery network. However, thoseskilled in the art will recognize that the verification system 100 wouldwork equally as well in a restricted access system (such as:subscription based delivery services and the like) where deliveryservices would only be provided for selected individuals and/ororganizations.

[0036] Therefore, the inventive concept in its broader aspects is notlimited to the specific details of the preferred embodiments but isdefined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A mail piece verification system for processing amail piece in a path of travel, the mail piece having associatedtherewith mail piece data, the system comprising: an incoming mailprocessing center for receiving the mail piece and obtaining the mailpiece data; an outgoing mail processing center located downstream in thepath of travel from the incoming mail processing center; and a datacenter in operative communication with the incoming mail processingcenter and the outgoing mail processing center; and wherein: theincoming mail processing center uploads the mail piece data to the datacenter; the data center performs a verification check on the mail piecedata and downloads instructions based upon the verification check to theoutgoing mail processing center; and the outgoing mail processing centeruses the instructions to process the mail piece.
 2. The system of claim1, wherein: the incoming mail processing center performs a preliminarycheck on the mail piece data that is different from the verificationcheck performed by the outgoing mail processing center; and theverification check includes cryptographic calculations to determinewhether or not the mail piece data is valid.
 3. The system of claim 2,wherein: the preliminary check includes a check to confirm that the mailpiece data includes at least one of the following: (i) recognition of avalid meter serial number; (ii) a posting date within an acceptablerange; and (iii) a valid recipient address; and the verification checkfurther includes a duplicate detection analysis to determine whether ornot the mail piece data has been fraudulently copied.
 4. The system ofclaim 3, wherein: the system uses the mail piece data to determine adelivery route for the mail piece; the outgoing mail processing centerrepresents a particular one of a plurality of outgoing mail processingcenters that corresponds to the delivery route; and the data centerlimits the download of the instructions to the particular one of theplurality of outgoing mail processing centers.
 5. The system of claim 4,wherein: the system uses the mail piece data to determine a serviceclass for the mail piece; and the system uses the service class toestablish a priority for the upload of mail piece data from the incomingmail processing center to the data center and the download ofinstructions from the data center to the outgoing mail processingcenter.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein: the system assigns a globalidentification number to the mail piece that is used by the system toaccess the mail piece data and the instructions associated with the mailpiece; the mail piece is of a physical type; and the mail piece dataincludes a postal indicium.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein: thesystem uses the mail piece data to determine a delivery route for themail piece; the outgoing mail processing center represents a particularone of a plurality of outgoing mail processing centers that correspondsto the delivery route; and the data center limits the download of theinstructions to the particular one of the plurality of outgoing mailprocessing centers.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein: the system usesthe mail piece data to determine a service class for the mail piece; andthe system uses the service class to establish a priority for the uploadof mail piece data from the incoming mail processing center to the datacenter and the download of instructions from the data center to theoutgoing mail processing center.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein: theincoming mail processing center performs a preliminary check on the mailpiece data that is different from the verification check performed bythe outgoing mail processing center; and the verification check includescryptographic calculations to determine whether or not the mail piecedata is valid.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein: the preliminary checkincludes a check to confirm that the mail piece data includes at leastone of the following: (i) recognition of a valid meter serial number;(ii) a posting date within an acceptable range; and (iii) a validrecipient address; and the verification check further includes aduplicate detection analysis to determine whether or not the mail piecedata has been fraudulently copied.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein:the system uses the mail piece data to determine a service class for themail piece; and the system uses the service class to establish apriority for the upload of mail piece data from the incoming mailprocessing center to the data center and the download of instructionsfrom the data center to the outgoing mail processing center.
 12. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein: the incoming mail processing centerperforms a preliminary check on the mail piece data that is differentfrom the verification check performed by the outgoing mail processingcenter; and the verification check includes cryptographic calculationsto determine whether or not the mail piece data is valid.
 13. The systemof claim 12, wherein: the system uses the mail piece data to determine adelivery route for the mail piece; the outgoing mail processing centerrepresents a particular one of a plurality of outgoing mail processingcenters that corresponds to the delivery route; and the data centerlimits the download of the instructions to the particular one of theplurality of outgoing mail processing centers.
 14. The system of claim13, wherein: the preliminary check includes a check to confirm that themail piece data includes at least one of the following: (i) recognitionof a valid meter serial number; (ii) a posting date within an acceptablerange; and (iii) a valid recipient address; and the verification checkfurther includes a duplicate detection analysis to determine whether ornot the mail piece data has been fraudulently copied.
 15. A method ofoperating a mail piece verification system, the method comprising thestep(s) of: obtaining mail piece data associated with a mail piece at anincoming mail processing center; uploading the mail piece data to a datacenter; performing a verification check on the mail piece data;downloading instructions based upon the verification check to anoutgoing mail processing center located downstream in a path of travelfrom the incoming mail processing center; and using the instructions toprocess the mail piece at the outgoing mail processing center.
 16. Themethod of claim 15, further comprising the step(s) of: performing apreliminary check on the mail piece data at the incoming mail processingcenter that is different from the verification checks performed by theoutgoing mail processing center; and using cryptographic calculationsduring the verification check to determine whether or not the mail piecedata is valid.
 17. The method of claim 16, further comprising thestep(s) of: using the mail piece data to determine a delivery route forthe mail piece; and limiting the download of the instructions to aparticular one of a plurality of outgoing mail processing centers thatcorresponds to the delivery route.
 18. The method of claim 17, furthercomprising the step(s) of: using the mail piece data to determine aservice class for the mail piece; and using the service class toestablish a priority for the upload of mail piece data from the incomingmail processing center to the data center and the download ofinstructions from the data center to the outgoing mail processingcenter.
 19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step(s) of:assigning a global identification number to the mail piece; and usingthe global identification number to access the mail piece data and theinstructions associated with the mail piece; and wherein: the mail pieceis of a physical type; and the mail piece data includes a postalindicium.
 20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step(s) of:within the preliminary check step, checking to confirm that the mailpiece data includes at least one of the following: (i) recognition of avalid meter serial number; (ii) a posting date within an acceptablerange; and (iii) a valid recipient address; and within the verificationcheck step, performing a duplicate detection analysis to determinewhether or not the mail piece data has been fraudulently copied.
 21. Themethod of claim 15, further comprising the step(s) of: using the mailpiece data to determine a delivery route for the mail piece; andlimiting the download of the instructions to a particular one of aplurality of outgoing mail processing centers that corresponds to thedelivery route.
 22. The method of claim 21, further comprising thestep(s) of: using the mail piece data to determine a service class forthe mail piece; and using the service class to establish a priority forthe upload of mail piece data from the incoming mail processing centerto the data center and the download of instructions from the data centerto the outgoing mail processing center.
 23. The method of claim 22,further comprising the step(s) of: performing a preliminary check on themail piece data at the incoming mail processing center that is differentfrom the verification check performed by the outgoing mail processingcenter; and using cryptographic calculations during the verificationcheck to determine whether or not the mail piece data is valid.
 24. Themethod of claim 15, further comprising the step(s) of: using the mailpiece data to determine a service class for the mail piece; and usingthe service class to establish a priority for the upload of mail piecedata from the incoming mail processing center to the data center and thedownload of instructions from the data center to the outgoing mailprocessing center.
 25. The method of claim 24, further comprising thestep(s) of: performing a preliminary check on the mail piece data at theincoming mail processing center that is different from the verificationcheck performed by the outgoing mail processing center; and usingcryptographic calculations during the verification check to determinewhether or not the mail piece data is valid.
 26. The method of claim 25,further comprising the step(s) of: using the mail piece data todetermine a delivery route for the mail piece; and limiting the downloadof the instructions to a particular one of a plurality of outgoing mailprocessing centers that corresponds to the delivery route.
 27. A methodof operating a data center for processing mail piece data associatedwith a mail piece, the method comprising the step(s) of: receiving themail piece data from a remotely located incoming mail processing center;performing a verification check on the mail piece data; and downloadinginstructions based upon the verification check to an outgoing mailprocessing center located downstream in a path of travel from theincoming mail processing center.
 28. The method of claim 27, furthercomprising the step(s) of: using cryptographic calculations during theverification check to determine whether or not the mail piece data isvalid.
 29. The method of claim 28, further comprising the step(s) of:using the mail piece data to determine a delivery route for the mailpiece; and limiting the download of the instructions to a particular oneof a plurality of outgoing mail processing centers that corresponds tothe delivery route.
 30. The method of claim 29, further comprising thestep(s) of: using the mail piece data to determine a service class forthe mail piece; and using the service class to establish a priority forthe download of instructions from the data center to the outgoing mailprocessing center.
 31. The method of claim 30, further comprising thestep(s) of: associating the instructions with a global identificationnumber; and downloading the instructions with the global identificationnumber; and wherein: the mail piece is of a physical type; and the mailpiece data includes a postal indicium.